This invention relates to the field of radiology and, more specifically to the field of mobile field radiology.
There are numerous situations in the medical field where it is desirable to obtain a radiographic image of a living being located in the field who is suspected of being injured without transporting the living being to a hospital or clinical setting. For example, military medical personnel are constantly treating injured soldiers on the battlefield. Frequently, the injured soldiers should not or cannot be transported to a hospital or clinical setting. Similarly, athletes are frequently injured on the field or court and require immediate attention. Because injured athletes are sometimes rendered unconscious or incoherent, athletic medical personnel cannot always detect the extent of the athlete""s injury by communicating with the athlete.
Heretofore, it has been necessary to transport injured persons to hospitals or other clinical facilities before X-rays could be taken. If the extent of the person""s injuries are unknown, the act and manner of transporting the person can often exacerbate the injury. Accordingly, to minimize the chances of aggravating injuries due to transport, there is a need for a device that produces X-rays in field at the injury site.
An objective of the invention is to provide a device and method for facilitating rapid, on the spot diagnosis of injuries in the field.
It is another objective of the invention is to provide a digital X-ray unit that is effective for field use.
It is still a further object of the invention to provide a device that performs direct digital capture of medical radiographic images in the field and permits soft copy viewing of those images.
Given the following enabling description of the drawings, the apparatus should become evident to a person of ordinary skill in the art.